§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will make it his policy to invite an operating safety review team from the International Atomic Energy Agency to assist the nuclear installations inspectorate in its safety monitoring of (a) nuclear power plants, (b) nuclear fuel and enrichment plants and (c) nuclear reprocessing facilities in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. GoodladI fully support the International Atomic Energy Agency's work on nuclear safety. The agency's provisional schedule of operational safety review team visits for 1987 does not include any to nuclear installations in the United Kingdom.
Regulatory control of our nuclear installations is of course the statutory responsibility of the nuclear installations inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive.
§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list his responsibilities with regard to (a) safety of nuclear installations, (b) relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency, (c) relations with the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development nuclear energy agency, (d) relations with Euratom and (e) promoting visits by members of the public to civil nuclear installations as part of the nuclear industries' expanded open information policy.
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§ Mr. Peter WalkerI am the Secretary of State with overall policy responsibility for the safety of nuclear installations. The Government insist on the highest standard of safety at United Kingdom nuclear installations, and encourage openness by the nuclear industry. We attach great importance to improving international co-operation on nuclear safety through the, IAEA, NEA and EURATOM. The promotion of visits to nuclear installations is a matter for the organisations involved.